


Please, Come Home

by Acadjonne



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Multimedia, Reunions, reconnecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acadjonne/pseuds/Acadjonne
Summary: Sora gets the idea for the photo album when Zack comes home from a visit to Nibelheim with Cloud, absolutely raving about how adorable of a child his fiancé had once been.Sora is in the middle of an envelope of pictures of Zack at three years old when Kairi tugs on his arm, a fond smile on her face. In her hands is another stack of photos, with himself and Kairi clearly visible on the top of the stack. “Sora, look!” Kairi says, and he leans over to get a better look.The picture is taken on the beach, their favourite childhood playground. Ankle deep in the water are Sora and Kairi, faces obscured by sunlight yet distinguishable by their clothes and hair. To Sora’s right is another child, in brown shorts and a paopu-yellow vest, silver hair framing his face as he splashes water at Sora and Kairi. His name comes to Sora before he even has a chance to think about it.“Riku...” Sora gasps, and turns to look at Kairi again. “Are there more of him?”
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	Please, Come Home

**Author's Note:**

> So everyone please do me a favour and go thank [Parzival](https://twitter.com/Lanzelilot) for this fic, because without them, I never would have gotten this finished. They're truly the greatest cheerleader ever and I am forever grateful for all the help.
> 
> This is so self-indulgent, but that's worked out for me before so hopefully it does again. I had so much fun writing this, and creating most of the images I used in the fic itself. Data Greeting in ReMind truly gave me too much power, and I abused it for everyone's benefit.

Sora gets the idea for the photo album when Zack comes home from a visit to Nibelheim with Cloud, absolutely raving about how adorable of a child his fiancé had once been.

“You shoulda seen it, Sor,” Zack says, and Sora can practically  _ see _ the hearts in his brother’s eyes. “There was this one picture of Cloud and Tifa, she was clinging onto him like he’d disappear and he looked just as annoyed as he always does.”

Cloud, still packing leftovers his mother sent them back with into the fridge, looks over at them, his usual hard expression softened with fondness. Unlike most, Cloud doesn’t seem embarrassed to have Zack talking about his baby pictures.

“It’s too bad we don’t have ours,” Zack continues, melting dramatically into the armchair by the TV. “Cloud’s never gonna know how cute I can be!”

“Oh, don’t worry, I know plenty about that,” Cloud assures, and once he’s finally done with the leftovers, he marches steadily over to the living room to plop himself firmly into Zack’s lap. “I can’t imagine how much worse you were when you were  _ actually _ an excitable puppy,” he teases. Zack takes the bait, as always.

“Hey, you know you love me,” he chirps back, leaning forward into Cloud’s space. Sora peels himself off the couch, rolling his eyes as he makes his way back to the front door to pull his boots on. Sora loves Zack and Cloud, thinks they’re amazing together, but they can also get very mushy and he knows better than to stay and watch it unfold.

Besides, the gears are turning in his head, and he’s got an idea he needs a bit of help with.

* * *

Sora goes to grandpa Yen Sid with his idea, because it’s the easiest place to start.

Sora and Zack’s parents died in a storm when they were young, leaving them in the care of their grandfather for most of their lives. Sora, having been only three at the time, doesn’t remember their parents at all, but Zack was seven and took great care in passing on everything he remembered about them to Sora over the years.

Along with their parents, most of their baby pictures were lost in that storm. As great-aunt Verna tells it, their father had kept meticulously labelled photo albums of both the boys, with pictures of all their major milestones, in duplicate. Some pictures had even been printed in triplicate, with copies given in photo desk envelopes to uncle Angeal.

After the storm, and even before, uncle Angeal had practically followed Sora and Zack around with his camera. With no children of his own, he had more than enough free time to dedicate to his nephews, and had no reservations about letting them know how important they were to him. Zack had always been closer with uncle Angeal, with Sora leaning more towards great-aunt Verna and grandpa Yen Sid, but it had still saddened Sora when uncle Angeal had passed away too.

Meticulous in his own way, just as his brother-in-law had been, uncle Angeal’s photos were sorted into boxes denoting who appeared in the photos, divided into groups of years, and each photo is carefully dated and labelled. Some were even annotated with funny quips or little context clues. The boxes have been in grandpa Yen Sid’s basement for just over six years now.

Sora’s first idea is to look through the photos himself and make copies of those he deems to be of interest. The sheer number of photos might make the task a bit difficult, but he knows that Kairi would be happy to help if he asked her. Grandpa Yen Sid, though, simply raises an eyebrow at Sora.

“Why go through the trouble and cost? They are your photos to keep, Sora,” grandpa Yen Sid says, and he helps Sora to bring the boxes back to his apartment.

All told, there are seven boxes, each about the size of a shoebox and full of unlabeled envelopes. Three boxes are photos of Zack, two are photos of Sora, and two are photos of them both.

The next step, Sora decides, is to date all the envelopes.

* * *

Sora is forever grateful that he and Kairi remained friends after graduating high school, because Sora would never be able to get Zack’s photo album finished in time for his wedding without her, let alone in time for Christmas like he’s hoping to do.

Kairi is the one to suggest she look through the boxes labelled  _ Zack + Sora _ , while Sora goes through Zack’s boxes. “Once you figure out the order of the envelopes, you can get started picking out his baby pictures while I date everything for later.”

It is many steps up from Sora’s gameplan, which involved folding printer paper into envelopes to hold the photos he chose for the album, dated by month and year, and setting them aside to deal with later.

Sora is in the middle of an envelope of pictures of Zack at three years old when Kairi tugs on his arm, a fond smile on her face. In her hands is another stack of photos, with himself and Kairi clearly visible on the top of the stack. “Sora, look!” Kairi says, and he leans over to get a better look.

The picture is taken on the beach, their favourite childhood playground. Ankle deep in the water are Sora and Kairi, faces obscured by sunlight yet distinguishable by their clothes and hair. To Sora’s right is another child, in brown shorts and a paopu-yellow vest, silver hair framing his face as he splashes water at Sora and Kairi. His name comes to Sora before he even has a chance to think about it.

“Riku...” Sora gasps, and turns to look at Kairi again. “Are there more of him?”

His excitement is practically a physical thing, the memories of his childhood friend swirling in his mind in a tornado of contentment and nostalgia. Kairi seems to be feeling similarly, flipping further into her stack of pictures to show even more snapshots of Riku on the beach with them.

Kairi stops when she reaches the last picture in the stack, a shot of the three of them laying flat on their backs in the sand at sunset. Kairi’s on the far side of the photo, holding onto Sora’s hand, while Sora is in the middle also holding onto Riku’s hand. The three of them are all clearly asleep, without a care in the world.

“We’ve gotta show these to Riku,” Sora says, gently taking the photo from Kairi and holding it up in the light.

* * *

Sora and Riku’s connection was one that spanned nearly as far back as their living family trees did.

As young girls, Verna Hewley and Lucrecia Crescent had been close friends, and remained such even into adulthood. When Lucrecia had a son, Sephiroth, she had asked Verna to be his godmother. Verna had taken to the role with enthusiasm and a gentle kindness that kept her close with Sephiroth even as he reached his own adulthood.

When Sephiroth’s oldest son was born, he’d asked Verna to be the boy’s godmother as she had been Sephiroth’s. Under his father’s care and Verna’s gentle encouragement, Riku had been an independent, if shy, toddler when his path first crossed with Sora’s.

Sora had been two and a half years old when his parents dropped him off at great-aunt Verna’s for the night to be babysat. Zack hadn’t been there on that occasion- Aerith had invited him over for a sleepover after much begging to her adoptive mother.

Riku had been on his own too, visiting his grandmother Lucrecia while his own baby brother Rei had been at home with their parents. In the crisp summer evening, Lucrecia had brought Riku outside to play in a little turtle-shaped sandbox in her backyard, and Sora had been able to see them clearly from great-aunt Verna’s living room couch as he’d stood balancing on it.

Without shoes and somehow without alerting great-aunt Verna, Sora had managed to open the sliding back door, get down the back deck stairs, and cross the backyard to the chain link fence separating great-aunt Verna’s property from Lucrecia’s. Then, as he’d tried to climb through a toddler-sized gap in the fence, he’s tripped, falling onto his face in the grass on the other side.

His wailing was what got him discovered. Lucrecia had jumped, turning frantically to search for the source of the crying, but Riku had already noticed Sora. With all the grace a three year old could muster, he’d pushed himself up from the sandbox and walked calmly over to Sora, helping him sit up and then wrapping him in a gentle hug.

Riku had been content to hold Sora even after he’d stopped crying, and Sora had clung onto Riku fiercely. Great-aunt Verna and Lucrecia had been kind enough to let Sora and Riku play together for the evening, until it had been time for Sora to go to bed for the night. The next morning, great-aunt Verna had told Sora’s parents of his new friend.

They’d made sure to exchange information with Sephiroth, and thus Sora and Riku had become best friends. Through some twist of fate, uncle Angeal had also known Sephiroth well, friends with him since high school. That friendship had been imperative to keeping Riku and Sora connected after the death of his parents.

They’d only met Kairi later, once Sora started school, as she was his age and Riku was a year older than both of them. He’d been jealous of Kairi at first, clinging to Sora and trying to chase her away, but she’d quickly wedged herself firmly into Riku’s heart with little effort. Before long, they’d been inseparable, a true trio to be sure.

They’d remained close through school, even with a year of classes separating Riku from Kairi and Sora. Even through high school, Riku had practically clung to them. While Sora and Kairi each had other friends, Riku had only really known them.

That’s why it had been a surprise when it became harder to keep in touch with Riku when he’d graduated high school. Sora, lovesick beyond words and desperate to keep his oldest friend, had tried to keep contact with Riku with every spare moment he had. He’d mailed letters and packages to Riku’s college dorm, sent dozens of emails, and countless pictures and texts all through Riku’s first year away. He’d been going to school in Hollow Bastion, then, several hours away from home and on his own for the very first time.

Sora and Kairi had both invited him to their grand march and their graduation, but he hadn’t come. Riku had sent Sora a text apologizing for his absences at the end of that month, but ever since then, he’d been harder and harder to reach.

By the time Sora starts his photo album project for Zack, it’s been nearly a year since he’s heard anything at all from Riku. Three letters had come back with  **RETURN TO SENDER** stamps before he’d given up, and Riku’s phone number has been disconnected since just before Sora’s last birthday.

The most painful of it, though, is Riku’s defunct Kingstagram account. Once full of pictures of their trio in different combinations, and sometimes of Riku on his own, now all that’s left is a blank page only accessible to Sora through his private messages. He’s ashamed to admit he’s not even sure  _ when _ the account was deleted; even when they’d been speaking regularly, Riku never answered messages there.

Sora only noticed the forgotten account when he opens Kingstagram to check on how Riku’s been doing, later in the evening after he and Kairi called it quits on the photo boxes for the day. He’d typed Riku’s username into the search bar first, unable to find a match, before scrolling back through his inbox to find it instead. The username still wasn’t there, the only one in his chat history unaccounted for, but an unfamiliar username tag was in the place Riku’s chat should’ve been.  **_Kingstagrammer._ ** Clicking on the blank icon led Sora to an empty page, with three little words to stop him in his tracks.

**User not found** .

* * *

Kairi is a twin. Raised apart from her sister Naminé, it wasn’t really something that came up all that often, even when they were kids. It’s not that Sora is unaware of Naminé’s existence so much as sometimes he simply forgets about it.

Kairi and Naminé are close, though, despite being raised in different towns by different family members. They look different, they dress differently, they have different friends and different hobbies, but Kairi and Naminé are probably the closest siblings he knows, among a friend group that includes identical twins Ventus and Roxas and even Sora’s own close relationship with Zack.

Naminé is always willing to listen to what Kairi has on her mind, in the same way that Kairi does for her. So when she learns of Sora’s absolute failure to keep in touch with Riku, she’s quick to try to help Sora and Kairi track him down.

“I’m actually friends with his brother,” Naminé admits, over a Gummichat video call.

Sora’s face lights up. “Rei! I totally forgot about him.”

Kairi giggles as she watches Sora scramble for his phone. He still has Riku’s younger brother Rei as a contact, although he hasn’t spoken to him in nearly as long as since he’s last seen Riku in person. Rei had never really been friends with Sora or Kairi, despite being close enough with Riku. Somehow, though, Rei had taken quite a liking to Naminé, whom he’d known because her uncle Ansem was his godfather Even’s boss.

“What are you texting Rei for, anyway? Sephiroth or aunt Verna could just get you back in contact with Riku too.” Kairi says. Sora shakes his head.

He’s known Sephiroth for most of his life, and with his being Zack’s captain at the fire department, Sora sees him semi-regularly, but still, between him and Verna... “They’d ask why I want Riku’s address and then ruin the surprise.”

Kairi narrows her eyes. “What surprise, Sora? What do you need Riku’s address for anyway?”

“I’m gonna send him some of our pictures, in a Christmas card.” Sora admits. It feels dumb to say it, but Kairi’s got a reassuring little smile on her face, the way she always did when Sora talked to her about his crush back in high school.

“Aw, Sora, that’s sweet. I’m sure Riku would love that,” Naminé says over the Gummichat, and Sora ducks his head a bit. 

_ I hope so _ , Sora thinks,  _ I miss him _ .

He opens up Rei’s contact information.

Once ten minutes has passed without an answer, Sora assumes he’s not going to hear from Rei again. He flops back in defeat.

“No luck?” Kairi asks, and Sora nods. Naminé makes a thoughtful noise.

“Why don’t you try asking Roxas, Sora? I think Xion shares a class with him, so he might know Riku better than I do.” Naminé suggests. Sora figures it’s worth a shot.

* * *

* * *

Sora is waist-deep in Zack’s guest bedroom closet when someone claps their hands on his shoulders, startling him. Sora knocks his head into the closet’s back wall as he jolts.

Zack, ever a kind and caring brother, tugs Sora out of the closet in one motion, turning him so he can take a look at Sora’s forehead. Pulling Sora away from danger is something Zack’s practiced in, given all the tumbles and faceplants he took as a kid, but it’s no less annoying now as it was back when he was eleven.

“Zack, I’m fine,” Sora insists, trying to push him away, but with one hand on either of Sora’s cheeks, Zack stays firmly where he is. For a second, Sora is sure that Zack is about to kiss his forehead better like he did when they were little kids, but he lets go after another moment and takes a step back.

“So, Sora, is there a reason you were in the closet? I thought we had this conversation four years ago.” Zack says, and Sora groans, gently shoving Zack’s shoulder. Zack doesn’t even have the decency to pretend Sora budged him.

It had never been a question of not telling Zack, when Sora was sixteen and realizing he’d somehow gone and fallen in love with his oldest, dearest friend. He’d known his brother would be nothing but supportive, given his own relationship with Cloud, and Sora had never had a reason to doubt him or think he’d react badly. Sora counted himself lucky every day that he and Zack got along so well, and that his brother remained such a steady, loving presence in his life even into adulthood.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I was looking for Christmas cards. Didn’t Cloud put them with the wrapping paper last year?”

Zack grins, leading Sora down the hall and back towards the kitchen. “Yeah, but I moved ‘em so he wouldn’t be able to get ‘em. He was gonna send Tifa one as a birthday card back in May, so now they’re on top of the fridge. I’ll get ‘em down for you.”

Sora says, “so you didn’t just put them up there so Cloud would have to ask you to get them for him?” He rolls his eyes as he says it, even as Zack frantically shakes his head.

“No way, Shortstack! I know better than that, I do  _ learn _ things sometimes!”

At the start of their relationship, Zack had sometimes made a point to bring up his and Cloud’s height difference, calling him “cuddle-sized” and occasionally picking him up out of nowhere. There had never been anything malicious in it, Zack is too kind for that, but Cloud hadn’t been exactly excited to have his short stature pointed out. Zack will still pick him up sometimes, more as a show of strength more than anything nowadays, and just to prove that he can, but the topic of height isn’t brought up anymore.

Sora’s own height still earns him teasing from Zack sometimes, but he doesn’t mind it at all, never has. Sora can reach most of the things he needs to, and can climb for the things he can’t reach. Besides, he has more important things to worry about than how tall he is or isn’t.

Zack pulls a few boxes down from the cabinet above the fridge, placing them onto the kitchen table for Sora to look over. The first box, which has a clear plastic lid, shows white cards with a snowman in a santa hat and bright blue eyes. Upon opening the box and grabbing one of the cards to check the inside, Sora finds the eyes actually belong to a cute little chocobo with a “happy holidays” banner. There’s about a dozen of them in the box, all together.

The second box only has one card inside, of a snowy field full of woodland creatures. Most prominent of them are a little wide-eyed fox and a young deer. Around the trees and fallen leaves are shimmering gold outlines.

Both cards are cute, Sora has to admit, but not quite  _ right _ for how he remembers Riku. He looks to the chocobo card again, ready to take it and thank Zack for the help, when he makes a triumphant noise from his spot in front of the fridge.

“Yo, Sora, what about this one? Riku always liked Mickey Mouse, didn’t he?” Zack asks, holding out an old-looking card for Sora to inspect. He takes it eagerly. 

Indeed, in blue pajamas and holding a lit red candle, Mickey Mouse graces the front of the card with a big smile. The light from the candle in Mickey’s hold forms a beautiful snowflake design, lined all the way around with red and yellow like a glow. At the bottom of the card, in medieval-looking letters, are the words “SEASON’S GREETINGS.”

Sora knows it right away. The card is perfect.

With a card picked out and Riku’s address provided by Terra, all Sora has left to do is to pick out and copy some of their old photos.

The first one Kairi showed him is immediately set aside for that very purpose, of course. He finds a few older ones, too, from before they’d met Kairi. Added to the pile first is one of Sora and Riku sitting on a curved tree, overlooking the ocean at sunset. In the same pile as the tree picture is one of Sora chasing Riku up the wooden boardwalk at the beach as Riku runs backwards away from him.

Both photos were taken on the same day, when Riku was five and Sora was four. After Riku’s first full week of school, Sephiroth had taken them both to the beach for the day. Great-aunt Verna had come to, borrowing uncle Angeal’s camera to take photos of the boys while Sephiroth got a few of his own.

The next picture is one of the last uncle Angeal ever took. It’s on the beach again, looking out towards the stretch of sand Sora remembers most fondly from his many trips over the years. He’s running along the sand with Riku practically beside him, Kairi trailing quite far behind them.

Kairi and Zack had each provided Sora with pictures from his teen years, supplementing the gap left between uncle Angeal’s passing and Sora’s acquisition of a cellphone. Kairi’s is of Sora and Riku sitting in front of an exhibit at the natural history museum, at fifteen and sixteen. Sora’s half-fond look had been turned away from Riku for the photo when it was taken, while Riku’s expression is made hard to decipher with his wild bangs covering his face. Shortly after that museum trip, Riku had cut his hair short, like he’d had it when they were kids, but not before Zack caught a picture of him with Sora and Kairi at their school’s mini-olympics that June.

The last four pictures are directly from Sora’s phone, each about three years old or so. Three of them are from Riku’s senior year of high school. The first was taken on a field trip to the old castle square, Sora and Riku standing together and looking at a large stained-glass window. Kairi had been the one to take the picture, hoping to capture a moment that never happened. The other two are from Riku’s graduation ceremony, taken by Cloud only about a minute apart. Riku, standing between Sora and Kairi, each overwhelmed with different emotions. Sora, on the verge of tears as Riku admitted he’d be leaving Radiant Garden to go to school in Hollow Bastion.

Riku had never told Sora and Kairi that he’d been planning to leave. All through his senior year, he’d smiled and agreed to plans they’d haphazardly made under the assumption he’d stay with them, and never let on that he wasn’t going to keep them. To drop the bomb on them after his graduation ceremony had been almost cruel; Kairi had already been on the verge of tears just from seeing him cross the stage in his cap and gown, and had fled crying when she’d heard. Sora had stayed only a few moments, remembers calling Riku stupid for lying to them, before running after Kairi to console her. Riku had avoided them for most of that summer, until Sephiroth had had enough and told Kairi and Sora about Riku’s departure date, and they’d ambushed him for a proper goodbye.

The final picture Sora chose is from Riku’s one and only visit back home since he’d graduated school. It had been during the fall reading week, and so Kairi had been absent, gone to visit Naminé in Twilight Town. Riku had taken Sora back to the beach they’d spent so much time on as children, and apologized for not telling him about Hollow Bastion. He’d promised to be more honest in the future, to do better.

After that, he’d started answering Sora’s messages less and less. Sora tries not to think about it, because it hurts. He wants to think Riku had a good reason, but these days, it feels like he doesn’t know him well enough to be sure anymore.

* * *

When Sora was fifteen, he’d been confused about what love was, what it meant to be in love, and what the difference was between platonic love and romantic love.

Zack had recently gotten into a relationship with Cloud, Kairi had a crush on a girl she’d met in Twilight Town, and Riku had turned down Selphie Tilmitt’s requests to go on a date three times already. It seemed like all around him, Sora’s peers were exploring love and relationships, and Sora was left behind.

He’d spent a lot of time that year examining himself, and those around him. Every single thought and feeling that went through Sora’s head, he held onto, looking at everything and anything like it might just be the answer to every question he’d ever asked.

He’d watched Riku and Kairi a lot, too. How they acted around one another, and around Sora, and around everyone else. Kairi was outwardly cheerful, always trying to uplift others, but with Sora and Riku she was a bit more serious. Fierce and protective, Sora once watched her fend off a group of upperclassmen who’d been tormenting Ienzo Weiss in the hallways,  _ as a freshman _ .

Riku, on his own, was more reserved, sometimes scary-looking in order to avoid talking to others. Through most of high school, he’d also distanced himself more and more from Sora and Kairi. First, it had been subtle, at least with Sora. For Kairi, it had gone from obvious to extreme, with Riku often making excuses whenever Sora wasn’t there to balance them out.

The more Sora looked at his friendships with Kairi and Riku, the more unbalanced it felt. Often times in his fifteenth year, it felt like he was reaching for Riku, and only for Riku. He was close with Kairi, sure, and often felt more connected with her. Kairi was always by his side, but the more time passed, the further away Riku seemed. It had felt terrible.

Sora had longed for Riku and lamented his absence so much that Zack had gently teased him about it. Sora couldn’t remember anymore what he’d said, just that he’d mentioned something about a wedding. In that moment, it had seemed to come into focus for Sora. He’d looked a lot more closely at Riku after that.

By sixteen, Sora knew what he felt for Riku; a massive, all-eclipsing crush, so aptly named because Sora felt like he was being crushed the further Riku pulled away. He’d come out first to Zack, and then later to Kairi, admitting to them both times the truth of his feelings towards Riku. He’d come out to Riku too, in the summer between tenth and eleventh grade, but hadn’t been able to go further than that.

Riku hadn’t said much about the admission Sora had made then, but he’d stopped pulling away at the time, started letting himself be part of their friendship again. Sora had felt, for a while during Riku’s senior year, that maybe they were getting closer than they’d been before.

The photo Kairi had taken of Sora and Riku in front of the stained-glass window had been one of many failed confession attempts on Sora’s part. By that time, Sora had graduated from a massive crush to full-on lovesick, much to the teasing of Kairi and Zack. The stained glass hadn’t been the first attempt at a confession, or the last, but it had been the most important for Sora because it was the closest he’d ever come to telling Riku.

He’d had another confession attempt planned, after that. One last time, one last chance to tell Riku, he’d convinced himself. Through Riku’s graduation ceremony, he’d been antsy in his seat, aware of every passing second in a way he’d never been before.

Once the ceremony had ended and Riku had rejoined his friends and family, Sora had begun to psych himself up. He’d been patient enough to let himself be led along as everyone shuffled outside, as Cloud and Sephiroth and great-aunt Verna had taken photos of Riku on his own and with his friends, until finally it had just been Sora and Riku facing each other. And Sora had opened his mouth to finally let everything go, but Riku had beaten him to it with a punch that knocked the breath from Sora’s lungs and left tears in his eyes.

He’d been accepted to the University of Hollow Bastion, into the veterinary program. He’d be leaving in August, living on his own in an apartment near the campus. He’d have a full class roster in his first year and couldn’t promise to visit often because of how far away he’d be.

Sora had felt like his heart was shattering right there.

* * *

Sora mails his Christmas cards eleven days before Christmas, because the twelfth day before falls on a Sunday, and because he hadn’t had them ready to send the previous Friday.

Riku’s is at the top of the pile, in a bright green envelope and bearing Sora’s neatest handwriting. Sora’s still debating whether to drop it into the mailbox first or last as he makes his way down to the lobby of his apartment building.

There are seven other cards in the stack. Kairi’s and Zack’s are mostly formalities, given he sees them both practically daily, but Sora is going to send them anyways. He’s a sap like that. The other cards are for Roxas, Ventus, Vanitas, grandpa Yen Sid, and great-aunt Verna. All seven cards are much plainer than Riku’s in comparison, in clean white envelopes and with printed address tags because Sora’s handwriting truly is atrocious. 

He’d put the cards together the night before, with Kairi sitting on the other side of the couch flipping through Zack’s photo album. Sora had finally found the perfect album to put the photos in, and waited for Black Friday sales to start before buying two of them. They’re both a dark navy blue, the pages inside black as night, and with a photo slot built into the cover.

The first album is already full, and Sora’s halfway through putting pictures in the second. There’s space for five pictures per page in the album, but Sora has only been putting four on each page. Kairi’s help last night was with the empty fifth slots in the pages.

Somehow, somewhere, Kairi had found some pieces of paper which perfectly fit the 4x6 photo-sized slots, just around the time Sora had bought the albums. An idea had occurred to Sora spontaneously a few days later. Since there was room in the book anyway, why not have an index on each page explaining all the photos being shown?

Kairi had agreed to write the indexes if only to make it easier to read, although she writes much faster than Sora could ever manage. In the time it took Sora to write out short holiday greeting messages in everyone’s cards, Kairi had nearly entirely finished the indexes for the first album.

She writes them in her careful cursive, adding a hint of elegance to the indexes. Sometimes she asks Sora for funny jokes or little story blurbs about particular pictures he’d marked off with post-it flags. All the indexes are written using a purple pen that Sora had stolen from Zack, since his favourite is purple.

Sora is beyond sure he’ll love the albums when he opens on Christmas morning.

Sora writes the message inside Riku’s card last. He’d spent a lot of time thinking it over, writing and then scrapping drafts over the past week when nothing sounds right. Sora has never been good with words, but this feels  _ important _ , and he wants it to sound right. Finally, though, he thinks he’s found something, and he steadies his hand as much as possible while he writes the message out.

As an afterthought, Sora adds a short,  _ happy holidays!  _ And in another afterthought, squeezed in at the bottom of the card and barely legible,  _ Say hi to Mickey for me! _

Sora sets the card aside to let the ink dry for a minute while he writes the address information on the envelope, then gets the pictures and his contact card from Kairi to put into the card. It’s only once Sora’s sealed the envelope that he realizes Riku might not even still  _ have _ his pet mouse, and asking Riku to pass a hello onto him was probably a dumb thing to do.

* * *

Naminé arrives in Radiant Garden on her own, two days after the official start of the holiday break. There are four days left until Christmas Eve.

She and Kairi are ecstatic to see each other in person, since it’s been almost six months since Kairi went to Twilight Town, and they take a whole day to themselves to catch up. The second day Naminé’s in Radiant Garden, they visit their grandmother and do some baking.

On Naminé’s third day in town, she and Kairi show up at Sora’s apartment door and knock for fifteen minutes until he drags himself out of bed to answer. He knows they did it on purpose. Kairi has the spare key to his apartment, and he knows she’d used it to get herself and Naminé past the buzzer in the lobby. The knocking was intentional, and a rude awakening.

As an apology for the knocking, Sora gets treated to some fry-dough with hazelnut spread, which is a step up from the dry toast he was planning to have for breakfast. Sora munches happily on it as he lets himself be led wherever Kairi and Naminé decide they want to go today.

Their first stop is the Fountain Court to go skating. After that, Sora takes the girls to the fire station to see if Zack’s able to go with them for some lunch. He isn’t, but he does offer to host a movie night for them on Christmas Eve.

After lunch, the three of them head over to the elementary school to do some sledding. There are a few others there, some teenagers from the high school and one of Cloud’s friends, Yuffie, so they’re in good company. Naminé shrieks happily as she slides down the hill head-first on an inflatable donut, while Kairi pelts Sora with snowballs to knock him down as he rides his crazy carpet standing up. Eventually, with a bit of a team effort, Sora and Naminé manage to trap Kairi in the inflatable donut and push her down the hill too.

They stay at the elementary school until the sun starts to set and the three of them are soaked through with snow. Almost in a line, they walk back to Sora’s apartment, where he makes them all hot chocolate to warm up.

Just as Sora’s sat down on the couch, his phone starts ringing. When he raises it to check the number, he finds Ven’s smiling contact photo at the centre of the screen. He accepts the call.

“Ven! How are you?” Sora asks, a smile pulling at his lips.

Ven’s voice betrays a smile on his face too, even if Sora can’t see it. “We’re doing okay, Sora. Starting to get a bit of snow, though.” In the background of the call, Sora can hear what sounds like Roxas’ voice, although he can’t make out anything specific. “We’re not sure we’re gonna make it out to Twilight Town this year, actually.”

Sora frowns. “How bad is the snow?”

“It’s coming down pretty steadily right now. Aqua said it was supposed to turn into a blizzard tomorrow, and it might go on for a couple days. Roxas is calling Grandma Verna to let her know.” Ven says.

Ventus and Roxas, identical twins but practically night and day in how different their personalities are, are great-aunt Verna’s grandsons. They’re Sora and Zack’s only cousins, and only slightly older than Sora. Ven and Roxas grew up in Twilight Town but visited frequently as kids, and uncle Angeal brought Sora and Zack to visit them frequently too.

They have a long-standing tradition to meet up at great-aunt Verna’s for lunch on Christmas Day, which so far has remained entirely unbroken. Looks like this year will be a first for them.

“Aw,” says Sora, slumping, and he spots Kairi stifling giggles behind her hand on the other end of the couch. “That’s too bad. What are you gonna do instead?”

“I’m gonna stay here at Terra’s and Aqua’s gonna bring Master Eraqus over on the day of. I think Rox is gonna crash at Lea and Isa’s with Xion?” Ven says. That’s another thing about the twins; they both have different friend groups that almost never overlap.

“That sounds like fun,” Sora says brightly, because it does. With very little family to speak of, Sora’s long since learned that Christmas with friends can be one of the best things in the world. In particular he thinks it will do Ven a lot of good, since he can be a bit unsure about his standing with his friends sometimes. “Will you be able to video chat with us, at least?”

Ven laughs. “Of course, Sora! Just give me a bit of warning so I can find a quiet place to talk, and we’ll be good.”

“Hey, you don’t need to do that, Ven. I’m sure your friends are awesome, I don’t mind chatting with them too.” 

In the background, Sora hears Roxas’ voice get closer, though he’s still muffled. Ven says something to him, of which Sora only understands his own name, and then there’s a few quick remarks back and forth. They’re probably arguing about Roxas talking to Sora on the phone again.

It’s an old but not uncommon argument whenever Ven and Sora talk. Roxas is fine in video calls and sometimes a downright chatterbox in person, but he hates telephones with an almost impossible conviction. Texts are fine, but a voice without a face? Roxas doesn’t like it at all, Sora knows.

“Thanks for calling, Ven, but I should probably go. Kairi and Naminé are over so I should probably get back to them. Keep me updated if you managed to make it into town?”

He hears affirmative responses from both twins and laughs as the call disconnects. Maybe they won’t be here in person for the holidays, but at least he knows they’ll be in good hands.

* * *

The blizzard forecasted for Twilight Town doesn’t quite hit Radiant Garden, but it does make for a wet, heavy snowfall on Christmas Day.

The plan from the beginning was to have Christmas at Sora’s apartment this year, but Zack brings up the suggestion to switch it over to his and Cloud’s house in case everyone ends up snowed in. Sora declines, though, because he’s got enough blankets and pillows to make the world’s biggest fort. All of their friends are still the type of people who are childish enough to enjoy that sort of thing.

To say the pillow fort idea wins Zack over quickly would be an understatement.

He and Cloud are the first to arrive on Christmas Day. Aerith follows them inside, holding a basket full of small gifts and candies in one hand and Tifa’s in the other. Tifa herself is holding a stack of cards in red envelopes which she sets down on Sora’s kitchen counter when she takes her sneakers off.

Kairi and Naminé arrive not long afterwards. It’s just going to be the seven of them today, exchanging gifts and watching Home Alone movies all afternoon.

Zack and Sora had gone to grandpa Yen Sid’s last night for Christmas Eve, and dinner which great-aunt Verna had made, to make up for not seeing them on the day of this year. Great-aunt Verna had been relieved to hear from Sora about Ven and Roxas’ holiday plans, since Roxas hadn’t actually told her they had a backup.

Sora’s living room is warm and cramped with seven people inside, and he loves it. Aerith and Tifa have stolen the couch for themselves. Zack’s pulled the kitchen stools into the room for himself, Cloud, Kairi, and Naminé to sit on. Sora himself is so close to the tree that he’s practically underneath it. He loves it.

Aerith passes out her gifts first, giving the basket to Cloud and telling him to pass it along. One by one, they all pull a little box with their own name on it from Aerith’s basket. Once everyone has one, they open them together.

Aerith always goes first with gifts because hers are small but thoughtful. Like always, everyone gets a little sleeve of flower sleeves along with whatever trinket she’s decided reminds her of her friends this year. Sora’s turns out to be a black, crown-shaped keychain.

Around the room, they continue sharing gifts. Laughter rings out a few times over some of the gifts. Naminé launches herself onto Kairi in a hug when she opens up a new sketchbook and a set of art pens. Sora himself does a little happy dance when he opens the hot chocolate bombs that Zack got for him, complete with a set of chocolate spoons. After a moment, he composes himself.

“Hang on to your socks, dork,” Sora tells Zack, pulling his gift from under the tree. The wrapping is sloppy, because Sora’s never fully mastered how to do it right. Zack doesn’t mind though, tearing at the gap in the wrapping paper to peel it away in one motion.

He freezes when he sees the album, face going slack as he runs his fingers over the photo slipped inside the slot in the cover. It’s Zack himself, of course, all of three years old and holding a newborn Sora for the first time. His eyes dart between the album and Sora a few times, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Sora,” Zack says breathlessly, after a good minute. There’s tears welling in the corners of his eyes. Sora smiles gently at him.

“Open it,” Sora says, and Zack nods numbly, fumbling to open the album. When he does, he gasps.

He flips quickly through the pages, laughter bubbling up the further through the album he gets. Once he gets to the end, he turns it over and starts again, taking a bit more time to really look at some of the pictures. At some point, the tears he was holding back begin to run down his cheeks.

“There’s actually two of them,” Sora explains softly, and his eyes meet Aerith’s over on the couch. With a quick but sharp look down, she nods and reaches under the couch, producing the second photo album. This one doesn’t have a photo in the cover slot yet, but Zack stares at it as reverently as the first as Aerith hands it over. “I didn’t fill the second one, though. You’ve still got space to put some of your own memories inside.”

Sora’s barely finished his sentence before Zack pulls him forward. First into a hug, it quickly turns into a gentle grip around his shoulders as Zack nudges his fist into Sora’s hair.

“When did you have time to put this all together, huh?” Zack asks, voice thick and bursting with affection. “Where did you even find the pictures?”

Sora tries to pull away, but only for show. He’s smiling like an idiot, he knows. “They’re uncle Angeal’s photos. Grandpa-” A knocking at the door cuts Sora off. He frowns.

Everyone he was expecting to see today is here already, and Ven had confirmed that he and Roxas were stuck in Twilight Town after all. Besides, no one buzzed him to be let inside the building. For the life of him, Sora can’t think of who might be at the door.

Another knock sounds, and Zack lets him go. “You should probably answer that,” he says, and when Sora still doesn’t quite move, gives him a gentle nudge. Sora takes the hint.

When he opens the door, the greeting he’d been preparing to give dies on his lips. Because standing there in the hallway outside his apartment door is  _ Riku _ . His hair is dripping wet, his black jacket is shiny from being damp, and he’s not wearing a hat or a scarf or any gloves. In fact, he looks  _ cold _ , practically shivering in front of Sora’s door, and his lips might be a little bit blue.

But it’s  _ Riku _ , and he’s  _ here _ , and he’s holding onto one of the pictures Sora sent him like it will disappear if he lets go.

“ _ Sora _ ,” Riku says, the first word he’s said to Sora in person in  _ years _ , and he surges forward. Too quickly to process, too quickly to even blink, he’s got one hand on Sora’s cheek and the other in his hair and he’s pulling Sora forward and their lips touch, and in that moment reality comes back all at once.

Sora shrieks, just a little bit. Sora jerks back, because Riku is  _ freezing _ , so cold he feels like he’s made of ice. Then his brain catches up again and reminds him that he just pulled away from Riku  _ kissing him _ , and he grabs Riku’s jacket collar to pull him into his apartment. Riku goes numbly and without protest.

Once he’s gotten Riku inside his apartment and closed the door, Sora pulls him closer again to unzip Riku’s jacket. Riku seems to catch the hint and takes off his jacket, then his boots, leaving them where Sora indicates. He drops the photo he’d been holding onto the countertop, and Sora recognizes it as the stained-glass picture.

“Jeez, Riku,” Sora says, after a very tense and awkward silence, “you’re  _ freezing _ . Did you walk here in the snow?”

Riku shakes his head. “No, I drove,” he admits quietly. He seems taken aback when Sora gestures for him to follow further into the apartment. He downright stills when Sora hands him a towel and a change of clothes.

“Bathroom’s through there, go get changed. And did you really get that wet driving over from your dad’s? How far did you park from my building?”

Riku won’t quite meet Sora’s eyes. “I drove my bike. From Twilight Town.”

Sora crosses his arm. “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that you drove from  _ Twilight Town _ , in a  _ blizzard _ , on a  _ bicycle?! _ ” Upset does not begin to describe what Sora feels in this moment. Riku was never stupid when they were younger, so why is he being stupid now?

Riku bites his lip. He  _ still _ won’t look at Sora. “It was a motorcycle?” He offers, but his voice is still guilty.

“That doesn’t make it any better!” Sora snaps, then forces himself to take a deep breath. He turns away from Riku, but leans against the wall so Riku knows he isn’t going to leave. “Get changed, you’re dripping everywhere.”

It doesn’t take very long for Riku to emerge in the dry clothes Sora gave him, although he pauses in the doorway like he’s surprised to find Sora still waiting for him when he does. Without a word, Sora leads him back through the apartment and into the kitchen, snagging the hot chocolate bombs from Zack on the way. Riku settles himself tensely against the fridge while Sora stands in front of the stove heating the milk.

“So, is there a reason you drive through a blizzard like an idiot and then kissed me in the doorway?” Sora finally asks. Riku nods slowly, reaching over to the counter to pick up the picture he’d been carrying earlier. He places it gently into Sora’s hand.

“Kairi asked me to,” Riku says, and then steps back. Sora furrows his eyebrows, wondering what it meant that Riku would come for  _ Kairi _ but not for him, but when he turns the photo over in his hands, he finds his answer. Right underneath Sora’s chicken scratch writing, in purple ink and careful cursive, Kairi’s written out a note for Riku.

_ (Riku, _

_ Sora probably didn’t ever tell you this, but he had planned to confess to you in front of the stain glass windows at Radiant Garden Castle. He was so in love with you then- I don’t know how you didn’t see it then. He’s still in love with you, Riku. Don’t push Sora away again, please. I know he’s including a card with his address on it among these pictures. Come see him. Christmas is going to be at Sora’s apartment this year. _

_ Please, Riku. _

_ -Kairi) _

Sora chuckles once, lowly. He set the picture back down on the counter, and gives the milk one last stir before pouring it into a mug over the hot chocolate bomb. He pushes it towards Riku once the hot chocolate’s been mixed.

“Sora, she was telling the truth, wasn’t she?” Riku asks, and there’s almost a desperation there. Sora has known Riku to be shy, but he’s never known him to be afraid before. Not outwardly, not like this.

Sora nods. “Yeah, she was. I’m sorry I never told you. I was going to, when you graduated, but...”

Riku knows what he means, can read him just as easily as ever. “But I was going to Hollow Bastion.” Sora nods. “I should have told you.”

“No, it wouldn’t have helped. If you’d told me, I wouldn’t have-” But Riku cuts Sora off, puts a hand on his cheek and gives him such a look of  _ fondness _ . Sora looks away.

“Hey, Sora. I love you too. Since forever, it feels like,” Riku says, and Sora can’t take it.

He pulls Riku forward.

Their second kiss is warmer, full of love, and it’s the happiest Sora has ever felt.

**Author's Note:**

> Reminder once again to thank [Parzival](https://twitter.com/Lanzelilot) because they deserve as much credit for this fic as I do. I also have [a Kingdom Hearts Twitter](https://twitter.com/acadiawasmine) which you can come yell at me about Soriku on, anytime. I'm a bit shy but I'm always happy to make friends!


End file.
